Psalm 23 Revisited

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures, He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul.
These verses are so familiar, even moreso to those who grew up in the Church (I did not). But they are true. As I think about how to break the news to my mom that we are probably moving overseas, I see the contrast between a person for whom the Lord is the Shepherd, and those who attempt to shepherd themselves.
Classes begin overseas around August 8, and new teachers are expected to be in school around August 1. Before that time, my family would need to have 1. immunizations 2. passports 3.debts settled (1 mortgage, 2 car payments, and, I am ashamed to admit, credit card debt) 4. stuff sold, given away, or asked to store at parents’ homes (old photos, mostly). I cannot handle this, Lord, but I know You can!
Meanwhile, daily life, not dull to begin with, continues. Teaching Wednesdays and Thursdays 8-3. Keeping up with the house. Finishing the kids’ math books (3-4 weeks’ work). Keeping up with treasured relationships. Ministering at AWANA Wednesday nights and Sunday School. Keeping up with the chickens, rabbit, and cat.
We leave for our long-awaited family vacation to Washington, DC Friday morning. By God’s grace, I understand the limitations of time and space enough to realize I CANNOT accomplish anything more than the usual for the rest of this week. That brings a certain amount of peace. It’s taken me 44 years to understand that, but it’s good now.
When we return from DC, appointments are already set in place for Younger Daughter’s tonsillectomy, retainer fitting, and Oldest Daughter’s braces fitting. Appointments will be made for my first general check-up in 5 years, and teeth cleaning for all 3 kiddos. (Blue Cross stock, anyone? )
By God’s grace, I am teaching subjects I love and know well for the next 8 weeks. There is a lot of FUN coming up. Being accepted at a new school will be a good feeling. Seeing the pleasure on people’s faces as they take home a bargain from our yard sales, or free things, will give me a good feeling. Being able to comfort my kiddos after various medical procedures will be good. Seeing the vegetables contine to come in (spinach is ready now. Garden-fresh salad, anyone?) will be good.
God is not defined as a Good Shepherd because He sends things that please me, however. All things are defined as good because they come from my Good Shepherd. It’s easier, knowing I’m just a sheep. It’s perfect, knowing He is my Shepherd. I shall not want. You watch and see.

006 Reporting for Duty

The Spy Museum is going to be a fun new thing for us to see in D.C., but it’s as close to real subterfuge as I am every going to be able to get. My idea of a spy I can identify with is Mrs. Pollifax, who just did her normal grandmotherly thing and rescued lovelorn Easterners.

It’s highly likely that, if my mom knew I were contemplating moving overseas….No, let’s be real. If my mom knew I were contemplating taking her granddaughters (misandrogyny is a big family tradition on her side) overseas, she would stress to a real heart attack. Thus, I cannot tell my mom on our weekly phone calls, nor my sister on our biweekly emails, anything about job-hunting. Also, I must severly limit the time the kiddos spend on the phone with grammy. She doesn’t understand much of what they say, but you can’t be too careful. On the other hand, having the funeral before we move would be convenient….. No, just kidding.

The kiddos, growing older, are able to do more, and also to express their selfish little desires in a myriad of ways. Telling them we are staying in a luxurious hotel with a large indoor pool on the last night of vacation is almost guaranteed to make the first four days a continual barrage of, “Is it today we get to swim, Mommy?” Yes, it reminds me I wanted to do a cruise (read: self-contained paradise of swimming pools) from day 1. Don’t get me started.

Finally, Mr. Wonderful has a cold. He assures me it is a direct result of exercising last week (by walking around the track at the high school twice one morning), which “Kicked up stuff from my lungs. So I can’t exercise anymore.” Can you imagine a doctor in North America who could look with a straight face at a patient who claims that exercise caused a common cold? Did I mention there is an eighth of an inch of pine pollen on every vertical surface in this county? But it’s gotta be the exercise, yeah. Mr. Wonderful is 6 foot 5 and brushing 350 pounds. Better stop exercising, it’s causing him a cold.

Somehow Mr. Wonderful managed to spend TWELVE hours moving SW’s boxes yesterday, but today he is too tired to do anything but eat, go to church, and nap, ’cause of that darn cold.

“Honey,” says he, “I know we haven’t have much time together recently, so we could talk now.” I’m able to hear him because I’m in the bedroom blogging (and buying tickets for the Spy Museum, and checking hours on the Holocaust Museum) whilst his mountainous stomach is protruding up from the bed. And yes, I know in husbandspeak that sentence actually translates as “I’m horny, can I fuck you while the kids watch a movie in the next room?”

Sadly, murder is out of the question, because I would make a lousy criminal of any type. Can’t plan an alibi and all that, ya know. Happily, the cookies for tonight’s meeting are finished, it’s so hot the kiddos won’t want much dinner, and I fed the chickens and cleaned the kitchen this morning before church (where I taught 3rd grade Sunday School and he sat and watched the Adult Class’ Movie of the Week).

I’m outta here- Oldest Daughter is watching “Facing the Giants” in Spanish, which I would guess is a bid for my attention, since she doesn’t speak any Spanish and I do.

The Penguin on Your Television Will Now Explode

I am very, very glad Superbee got a SPLENDID new place. ‘Cause I feel now like he felt then, and his turned out so nice. Maybe mine will, too.

China is very interested in having us move over this summer. They are calling in an hour to shore up details. China. Tienjin, China. Population, 17 million. The second-biggest city in China. I cannot wrap my brain around it. That probably won’t stop my mouth when they call, though.

My new good friend SW just closed on her new house across town. They are moving this weekend. Not that my own place is really straightened up from the GREAT visit to Rootie’s last weekend, but I’m blowing my housework off to move SW. Don’t tell my mom, OK?

Since SW is SWamped with moving into her new place, she is not leaving for the Fabled Trip to D.C. next Friday. Instead, Mr. Wonderful is going with the kiddos and me. Sometime in the next 2 days I must cancel the extra hotel rooms and cabins and such.

Somehow I forgot, probably thanks to eating all of Rootie’s good cooking, that when you teach, you get homework, too- lesson plans, grading papers, etc. I have a good 4 hours’ worth tonight.

I’m not stressed. I’m not stressed. I’mnotstressedI’mnotstressedI’mnotstressedI’mnotstressedI’mnotstressed.
OK, I’m stressed. Pass me another of those warm marshmellow liquer things, wouldja, Rootie?

A Near Miss, and A Close Call

We lost range on the radio station we normally listen to (as if we do anything normally in my family) on the way to Rootietoot’s, and ended up listening to Styx’ “Blue Collar Man”. So I explain to my 9, 8, and 6-year-old what “blue collar” job and “white collar” jobs are.

Which would’ve been ‘end of lesson’, except Rootie’s kids are public-schooled and mine are home-schooled. So, Oldest Daughter, (“just a little girl, making a bad choice”) tells Rootie’s youngest at the dinner table that night, “If you homeschool, you get to wear a White Collar. If you public school, you have to wear a Blue Collar.”

Sigh. As usual, my kids end up teaching me a lesson. No, I never connected collar color and schooling preference for Oldest Daughter. That would be ignorant, since there is no cause-effect between the two.

Thankfully, Rootie and family understood. Now I know how Anne felt when Miss Stacey almost ate the pudding the mouse died in.

Important, not Urgent

Mr. Wonderful learned a technique that should keep chores from becoming overwhelming. You make a large rectangle on a piece of paper, and divide it into 4 equal sections.

The columns on top are ‘Important’ and ‘Not Important’, the rows down the side are ‘Urgent’ and ‘Not Urgent’. Then you take 5 minutes and put each task in one box. Laundry, for example, is “Important, Not Urgent” today. Picking up toner for our job applications is “Important, Urgent”.

Here’s the astounding thing for me: Mr. Wonderful says the goal is to get the Important, Not Urgent things done in your day. He promises (oh, those promises from Mr. Wonderful!) humans (of which I am one) will, by nature, get the Important, Urgent things done anyway. It is also, he tells me, very satisfying to completely ignore the Not Important, Not Urgent box.

Mr. Wonderful learned this, he tells me, from a SkillPath seminar, and it seems to save lots of headaches and time. Wonder if it’ll be on next week’s Monday Melee as Meretricious or Meritorious?

Monday Melee

Check it out at http://fracas.wordpress.com/ !

This Monday Melee is courtesy of my Oldest Daughter. (I wanted to hear her answers!)

The Misanthropic- Tell something about humanity you absolutely hate. Sin. The world would be so much better without it.

The Meretricious-Expose something that’s fraudulent, bogus, or phony. I told myself if I acted different, there would be no arguments with Younger Daughter. Turned out to be an explosion instead.

The Malcontent-Name something you are unhappy with. I’m unhappy with the bad side of me. Like in spelling tests, for example.

The Meretorious-Give someone credit for something and name it if you can. Mom, ’cause you are being a good mother for a long time.

The Mirror-See something good about yourself and name it. My best quality is the good ways I act.

The Make-Believe- Name something you wish for. Flying with invisible wings.

8-year-olds have a different perspective on life, don’t they?

A Fully Clothed Interview

Leave me a comment saying, “Interview me.” I respond by asking you five personal questions so I can get to know you better. If I already know you well, expect the questions may be a little more intimate! You WILL update your journal/bloggy thing/whatever with the answers to the questions. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the post. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

Rootietoot http://beacuseitspersonal.blogspot.com/ asked me:

1.If you could take your family anywhere in the world to live for a couple of years, housing and transportation provided, where would you go?
2. What’s your favorite thing about having a Drill Sergeant for a mother?
3.What would you do with each one of your kids, individually just you and her/him, for an all expenses paid 24 hours?
4. What’s your favorite beer?
5.If you and a friend could go anywhere in the US for 4-5 days, where would you go?

Rootie, I don’t feel exposed at all! I hope anyone feeling shy will step up to the plate, ’cause you are a LADY!

1. Cumae, Italy. It’s where Vergil lived whilst writing the Aeneid. His discription of Daedelus’ temple, and the unfinished carving of Icarus (due to Daedelus weeping so hard for his son that he couldn’t hold the chisel) always tears at my heart. Is the temple really there? It’s an hour’s train from Rome, and I’d love to know that city, too.

2. Mom learned as a sargeant, and instilled in me, an eye for organization and a huge work ethic. Because of these, 6 of my past 7 employers have promoted me. It doesn’t do a lot for personal relationships, but those qualities bring home the bacon every time.

3. Oldest Daughter: Have a beautiful set of clothes made so she will look like the Romantic she is inside. Repaint and redecorate her room to better reflect her girly artsyness. Listen to her for long hours uninterrupted. Visit a spa with her and have her hair done, so she can see how beautiful it could be. Hmm, maybe this is more exposed than I thought, since I’m crying at the thought of being able to give my daughter all I’d like to.

Middle Daughter: Get a great camera and attend a photography lecture with her, then go try it out. (She has an instamatic with 24 exposures for our DC trip next month, but she keeps coming in the house saying, “I just had to get a picture of that sunset, Mom!” Listen to her talk for 10-minute increments (she likes to intersperse action and word time-blocks). Take her on a safari in Africa, and to a petting zoo that specializes in baby African animals.

Youngest Son: Spend a couple hours wearing the uniform (of course he gets to keep it for a souvenir) and trying out the equipment and moves with a professional player and coach of each of the following sports: football, volleyball, soccer, and javelin. Take him to Arby’s, since he think the decor is “fancy”. Listen to him for long hours, espresso in hand, since it takes him forever to tell a story.

4. Does mead count? Otherwise, anything dark. I haven’t had anything except Miller Light for a couple of years, so I don’t really remember anything else. Sorry! Lousy memory!

5. Wow, this one is hard. There’s the thought of doing a once-in-a-lifetime trip to see the natural beauties of the Pacific Northwest or even Alaska, but, since I despise cold weather, only if it’s summertime. Central Florida has such a great variety of beaches, amusements, museums, theaters and restaurants, but is too hot half the year. I hear they do Murder Mystery Cruises down the Mississippi, and the all-on–shipboard convenience appeals, too. Oooh! A train ride through the Pacific Northwest! Yes, that’s it!!!

A New Lady, and a New Bucket

Wednesdays and Thursdays are my busy days, but I am looking forward to it this week. I’m serbing a Roman meal to 14 pre-teens, and have all the dishes ready. There’s this sacrificial cake that tastes like oatmeal cookies, dates stewed in honeyed wine, cheese, pears, a paste of vinegar-soaked pine nuts to put over hard boiled eggs, white grape juice, and a souffle/pudding/flan thing of eggs, honey, and milk cooked and stirred until “stiff”. None of it tastes like what Mama used to make, but it’s all good.

Younger Daughter is helping a lot in the kitchen these days, and is patient with me when I get befuddled, trying to do and teach at the same time.

Tomorrow one of my favorite students returns to my home for tutoring in Spanish 3. Sarah finished Spanish 2 in January, so we took a month off. My own kiddos finished the year’s work yesterday (we are required to school for 180 days per calendar year, 4 1/2 hours per day), except for math. We will be taking the rest of March off, finishing math when we get back from DC in April, and taking off until August.

A lot of good things are happening now. I’m thankful, and glad.

Monday Melee

Check it out at http://fracas.wordpress.com/ !

The Misanthropic- Name something about humanity you absolutely hate. The ratio of thinking people to mental couch potatoes is much, much too small.

The Meretricious- Expose something that’s fraudulent, bogus, or phony. Benny Hinn. He claimed to have cured the entire city of Orlando of cancer whilst I was living there. Why does anybody still listen to this guy?

The Malcontent- Name something you are unhappy with. The color of my kitchen walls.

The Meritorious-Give someone credit for something and name it if you can. Andrew Carnegie, who donated big bucks so little towns like mine could have a decent library.

The mirror- See something good about yourself and name it. I am well-educated.

The make-believe- Name something you wish for. An all expense-paid move to a great job in Puerto Rico.

Quiet fears

Wow, isn’t fear fun? Here sit I, in a safe place, with plenty to eat, a (fairly) stable government, a loving family, good health, and a good education to aim at the future, shaking.

Korea is very, very interested in bringing us over to a paid studio apartment to work for a year. Seoul, where I don’t have to wonder if the toilet paper will feel like cardboard or the natives plot our demise, or whether I’ll have to wear a rolled up white cloth every time I get my period.

A studio for 5 people? I think we could handle that, especially since both parents would be working full-time, and, by the way, the only school breaks are 2 weeks mid-year and 2 months over the summer. What if just Mr. Wonderful went over, and I got a job in a private school here for a year (where the kiddos would attend)?

What would we do with the house? A couple of friends are now recommending we keep it- the local school board just bought land 6 miles south for a new school, so the area is scheduled to grow. Subcontracting, however, is against our current mortgage. For the first time in my life, I can envision improvements to the land and structure of the house- losing this home would be a grief. It’s the only home the kids remember- would they freak?

What about the 2 cars? The little car has 100,000 miles on it. We’d never get enough out of them to pay off the loans, would we?

What about the $5k credit card debt? As much as my mom preached for years against credit cards, we bit the bullet last year when Mr. Wonderful’s business wasn’t going well. The IRS check was dumped immediately into the debt, and we moved to the lower interest rate at the Credit Union, but Glory! it’s like an albatross.

What about the kids? Would they fit into a private school where both we parents worked? It would be the first time they have ever NOT had at least one parent home. What about if one got sick (#2 had strep 6 times last year), and if they were having a hard time adjusting, would either of us parents have the time and emotional energy to really help them?

The maddening little voice in my head tells me to stop whining, that thousands of families face was, poverty, life-threatening illness daily. We are rich in security and choice. What I used to tell my sister, as she went through a nasty divorce and custody battles- Yep, it’s scary, but 6 months from now it’s going to look very different.